Charis Wilson died last Friday. She was first the model, then the lover, and finally the wife of photographer Edward Weston, who was 28 years her senior.
When I came of age in photography, it was just past the time when reading Weston's Daybooks (in the then-ubiquitous two-volume Aperture set, now long out of print) was almost a rite of passage among photographers of a certain ambition. I remember reasoning during my penurious student years that I didn't need to own my own copy because the two volumes would always be available in libraries; and now all I remember about them are his accounts of his love affairs. Chiefly, Charis. Edward was a man much swayed by his passions for his lovers.
Wilson is often referred to as Weston's "muse," and the description for once isn't inapt. She was the subject of half of his nudes, many of them among his most famous pictures. And, according to some, she was the better writer and wrote the application for the Guggenheim—the first ever awarded to a photographer—that cemented Weston's national fame. She helped support them, helped him in the darkroom, even helped generate ideas for his pictures.
Weston died more than fifty years ago, and even his most famous photographer son, Brett, has been gone for more than decade and a half. I hadn't actually realized Charis Wilson was still alive. Weston distinctly belongs to an earlier time, a different era. Charis was long-lived. She was ninety-five.
Photographs by Edward Weston
I remember, from the Daybooks, Weston's palpable grief when they divorced—he wrote to a friend something like "Edward and Charis are no more!" —But don't take that as an accurate quote. Yet, although she left him and remarried immediately after their divorce, they remained friends, and she spent much of the latter part of her life talking and writing about her association with him—including in her autobiographical book Through Another Lens: My Years with Edward Weston, and in a film, made five years ago, called Eloquent Nude: The Love and Legacy of Edward Weston and Charis Wilson. (Anyone seen that?)
I'd love to own The Daybooks now, but can't afford a set. Hard to believe they're rare now. I wonder if Weston's work and the arc of his life are as familiar to photographers now as they once were. Amy Conger's book
I have a feeling the definitive story of Edward and Charis is still to be written.
Mike
Featured Comment by Chris Y.: "Thank you for this blog, I can't tell you what it means to me sometimes. I took all of Newhall's classes at the University of New Mexico in the late '70s. He made these people real to us, and we felt as if we'd known them personally, because he had. The news about Charis reached me via The Online Photographer as I was leaving my office for the weekend, like a faint radio signal from a distant, distant star. I thought about it all day yesterday, but who could I tell, that it wasn't just a dream after all...."
Abe Books UK has a two-in-one copy of Daybooks for £15. I picked up seperate copies for less than £20 on Amazon Marketplace a couple of years ago. They are the best photography read I have had.
Posted by: David Mannion | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 02:43 AM
Eloquent Nude: The Love and Legacy of Edward Weston and Charis Wilson. (Anyone seen that?)
Yep, it was broadcast on Hungarian national TV. I loved it. I especially enjoyed the story when Edward and Charis had a picnic in the mountains with Ansel Adams (good friend of Edward Weston) and then Charis started to tell dirty limericks to entertain the men.
Posted by: Bela Szegedi | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 03:26 AM
The Eloquent Nude was on Ovation channel last night here in the Chicago area on Comcast - check the listings for Thanksgiving - they are running shows on Photography all day, perhaps it will be on again. It is an interesting movie.
Posted by: Mark Kinsman | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 03:59 AM
"Abe Books UK has a two-in-one copy of Daybooks for £15."
Not any more they don't.
RDP
Posted by: Robert P | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 04:31 AM
Lest people get the wrong idea, the Daybooks have been consolidated into a single paperback edition, $24 direct from the Aperture Foundation:
http://tinyurl.com/yzw2zvm
(I think we've done this before.)
I never made it through the local library copy. Maybe it's time I bought one, too. Lots of drama, and melodrama, but lots of great photo stuff, too. It stuck in my mind that he was obsessed about the "importance" of particular photographs, over and above their aesthetic success.
Posted by: robert e | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 05:26 AM
The Eloquent Nude is running on the Ovation channel this week. They seem to be having one of their periodic set of photography shows.
Posted by: Steven Scherbinski | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 05:47 AM
The "no more" quote appears in Ansel Adams' autobiography I think. I'm fairly sure is not that wording, though something similar, at least as reported by Adams. Unfortunately I don't have the book to hand to check...
Posted by: Tim Bradshaw | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 05:50 AM
Eloquent Nude: The Love and Legacy of Edward Weston and Charis Wilson is currently on Ovation TV here in NYC. A wonderful watch.
Posted by: mitchell | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 07:38 AM
I can recommend Edward Weston: His Life by Ben Maddow for a comprehensive overview and Margrethe Mather and Edward Weston: A Passionate Collaboration by Beth Gates Warren for insight into another of Weston's great muses, not forgetting that there are lots of books about Tina Modotti now.
Both above named books available from Amazon (don't forget to go there via TOP!)
Cheers, Robin
Posted by: Robin P | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 07:41 AM
The "Elequent Nude" DVD can be bought from http://www.eloquentnude.org/ I think it is well worth $25 for anyone interested in Edward Weston. Charis Wilson seemed a lovely old lady in the film.
Robin Mellor (UK)
Posted by: Robin Mellor | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 07:49 AM
A quick search turned up http://www.eloquentnude.org/, which sells the movie DVD. The Ovation cable network will present the documentary four times before the end of the month (http://www.ovationtv.com/programs/513-the-eloquent-nude). That Ovation Web page offers a 4 minute clip of the show.
Ovation is featuring a number of photography related shows this week. The page at http://www.ovationtv.com/programs/FRAMED/ lists the shows, and offers clips of each.
Bob
Posted by: rwzeitgeist | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 08:13 AM
Mike,
Watched The Eloquent Nude on OVATION just last evening.Check for additional showings,
they do an entire series on Photography ever
so often.
P.S. Have a great Thanksgiving.
Posted by: Danny Chatham | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 08:22 AM
The Eloquent Nude will be on Ovation channel this week. It is photography week on Ovation and I know I saw it at least once when going through the schedule to decide what to record.
Posted by: Jason | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 08:28 AM
here is an intewrview froom 1982:
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/wilson82.htm
Posted by: Hans Berkhout | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 08:37 AM
I had no idea Charis was still around either; thanks for posting this.
Daybook 2 is the only one I have (could afford) from back in the 1970s. It was a great favourite and I must re-visit it. I always promised myself I would get Daybook 1 as soon as I could afford it, but never did.
It is still possible to buy the combined volumes in their reprint form here in the UK, at a not unreasonable £16.95 - Christmas present Mike?
Posted by: Roy Hammans | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 09:41 AM
Mike wrote:
"When I came of age in photography, it was just past the time when reading Weston's Daybooks (in the then-ubiquitous two-volume Aperture set, now long out of print) was almost a rite of passage among photographers of a certain ambition."
I certainly resemble that remark. This was the 1970s, when freedom, love, and a life of art was a not uncommon aspiration for dreamy young men. Weston had the whole bundle, and Charis was part of that. (This was the same time that The Diary and Anais Nin was also popular, and for similar reasons.)
A few years ago I picked up Wilson's autobiography, which I enjoyed a great deal -- some wonderful photos, among other attractions. And I was sad to read her obit in the Times.
It seems too obvious to add that what remains are the photos, which will continue to nourish as long as people are interested in photography. Chris Wilson may be dead, but in this important way, she lives on.
Posted by: Bill Poole | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 09:54 AM
Eloquent Nude aired last night on OvationTV, and is scheduled for rebroadcast 11/27, 28, & 29.
I doubt Charis wasted a single day of those 95 years...
Posted by: Richard Groves | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 10:20 AM
Mike delete my comment on Elegant Nude DVD at Amazon.
Here is where DVD's can be obtained from the film makers.
http://www.eloquentnude.org/index2.html
Posted by: John A. Stovall | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 10:23 AM
Have you checked Alibris? They have multiple copies of the Daybook volumes at various prices
Posted by: Bruce Krobusek | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 10:27 AM
I purchased the two-in-one volume directly from Aperture last year for about $30. Last time I checked, it's still available. Definitely worth the read.
Posted by: Jason Randolph | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 10:35 AM
The Eloquent Nude is being shown on Ovation TV this week.
Posted by: Arnold Zann | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 10:42 AM
Film you mentioned is being shown on the Ovation network this week, part of their week long photography event called "Framed".
http://www.ovationtv.com/programs/FRAMED/
Posted by: Mike Fioritto | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 11:05 AM
It's hard for me, as a photographer of a certain age, that the Daybooks are not still required reading. I still have my well thumbed Morgan & Morgan papernback edition.
This brings to mind what is to me a touchstone of the contemporary "camera as computer peripheral" era - young photographers seem know little or nothing about the gods of my Pantheon: Cartier-Bresson, Weston, Minor White, Koudelka and so on. Or even Pete Turner, Ernst Haas and Bert Stern.
No insights, just an observation.
Posted by: JKLWOOD | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 11:36 AM
Jeez! If there was ever a photography related book which should always be in print it is the "Daybooks."
I've been trying to replace my very worn paperback two-volume set with hardcovers for nearly 30 years.
Posted by: Bill Mitchell | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 11:52 AM
The cable channel OVATION TV will be showing The Eloquent Nude on Friday, November 27th, and then again on Sunday and Monday, the 29th and 30th. Here's a link to the schedule which includes a preview video:
http://www.ovationtv.com/programs/513-the-eloquent-nude
Posted by: GILMFILM | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 11:53 AM
The allure of this woman is unmistakable, both physical and spiritual....
Posted by: Greg Smith | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 12:02 PM
I, too, was unaware that Charis was still with us. And this is the first notice of her passing I have read. The story of Edward and Charis would make for a Hollywood film of epic emotional stature, with no computer-generated effects needed. (Except for, perhaps, some re-creation of Depression-era tableax...)
Posted by: Stephen Gillette | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 12:17 PM
I saw Eloquent Nude last night on TV. I guess that wasn't a coincidence that it was on. There is always something sad about the passage of time. Their story was very moving. She really was his strength but I am not sure he always appreciated her contributions. Sometimes you don't know what you have until you lose it.
Posted by: Ed Taylor | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 12:44 PM
The cable channel OVATION TV will be showing The Eloquent Nude on Friday, November 27th and again on Sunday and Monday, the 29th and 30th. Here's a link to the schedule and a video:
http://www.ovationtv.com/programs/513-the-eloquent-nude
Posted by: GILMFILM | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 12:51 PM
You can see clips of Eloquent Nude here:
http://www.eloquentnude.org/index2.html
Posted by: daniel Sheehan | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 12:54 PM
I'm fortunate enough to have the Daybooks in my book collection. Another book worth having is Amy Conger's 'Edward Weston: Photographs from the Collection of the Center for Creative Photography.' It includes information from Charis Wilson's journals, but beyond that, is the largest catalog ever published on any photographer's body of work. It summarizes over 1800 images and includes an amazing amount of research and detail into Weston's working practices.
I also own a 30 minute video entitled 'Remembering Edward Weston,' which was produced by the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe. It includes live interviews with Charis Wilson, Brett and Cole Weston, Beaumont Newhall and Dody Thompson. Each provide personal stories and reminiscences about their experiences with Edward. Appropriately, it won a "Muse Award" from the American Association of Museums.
The video is now out of print. However, I decided to call the museum in Santa Fe anyway to see if they had any remaining copies. The friendly staff member thought they were gone, but she called back after checking storage and found one copy. So, Mike, have at it...505-982-1131.
Posted by: Jeff | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 01:02 PM
"Eloquent Nude" is available from www.eloquentnude.org for $25.00
Posted by: ROA | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 01:08 PM
I was definitely surprised to see that Edward Weston's 'Daybooks' is (are?) no longer in print; it's really part of the 'canon' of photography-as-art. Even used copies of the single volume paperback are now over $60.
There's a motley selection of Edward Weston photo books available. The most recent issues all focus on his nudes, probably because such books are predictable sellers.
The best general survey available is the pricey but gorgeous Lodima Press 'Life Work', which uses multiple paper stocks and inks to closely emulate Weston's original prints. Amazon still lists new copies of 'Edward Weston: The Last Years in Carmel', which has beautiful reproductions and an elegiac character. It addresses the sunset of Weston's photography, the interval between his divorce from Charis and his disability from Parkinson's disease. It may also be possible to find new copies of 'Dune', an exquisitely printed book comprising dune photographs by Edward and Brett Weston.
Posted by: Geoff Wittig | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 01:13 PM
Dear Mike,
Seems to me it should be mentioned that Charis was a photographer and artist in her own right and more than a mere appendage to Edward.
I read The Daybooks in hardcover in college, presumably the 1961 edition (unless there was an earlier one by a different press). Some decades later I acquired a set of the paperbacks with a copyright date of 1973 (the white cover edition). To my surprise, I found that most of Book IV (his declining years) had been removed from the 1973 edition.
That redacted closing leaves one with a considerably sweeter impression of Edward, who was not exactly the world's nicest and most honorable man (understatement).
I've always wondered at whose behest the effort was made to clean up his image.
Are the paperbacks really rare now? Amazon seems to have quite a few used copies at reasonable prices.
pax / Ctein
==========================================
-- Ctein's Online Gallery http://ctein.com
-- Digital Restorations http://photo-repair.com
==========================================
Posted by: ctein | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 01:33 PM
Mike,
Last winter I read Margaretta K. Mitchell's Ruth Bernhard:Between Art and Life. That quote, as I remember, is very close to a Weston line in one of the many letters exchanged between him and Ruth Bernhard.
Thanks, David McCoy
Posted by: David McCoy | Wednesday, 25 November 2009 at 02:39 PM
abebooks.com lists a number of copies of hardcover daybooks at various prices (some ex-library, some presumably not). (as a bookseller, i like to know these things.. as well as ways to get them from independent bookstores.)
Posted by: ann burlingham | Thursday, 26 November 2009 at 01:27 PM
Thanks for sharing, Mike. And thanks Ctein, for remember that. Charis was much more than a muse and lover, and few people can remember or accept it either.
Helcio
Bauru-BR
Posted by: Helcio J. Tagliolatto | Thursday, 26 November 2009 at 05:38 PM
Edward had good taste. Yum-my.
Posted by: Eolake Stobblehouse | Thursday, 26 November 2009 at 07:22 PM
Thank you for this blog, I can't tell you what it means to me sometimes. I took all of Newhall's classes at the University of New Mexico in the late 70's. He made these people real to us, and we felt as if we'd known them personally, because he had. The news about Charis reached me via the online photographer as I was leaving my office for the weekend, like a faint radio signal from a distant, distant star. I thought about it all day yesterday, but who could I tell, that it wasn't just a dream after all....
Posted by: Chris Y. | Friday, 27 November 2009 at 09:03 AM
Charis Wilson joins that group of women I have fallen in love with without really knowing. Of course, she would have been old enough to be my mother, but that wouldn't have stopped us.
Posted by: Dave Kee | Saturday, 28 November 2009 at 12:50 AM
A documentary - I cannot remember the name - of Charis talking about her time with Weston was aired on the ABC on Sunday Arts here in Australia.
All I remember was when Charis was talking about camping with Brett: Charis said that Ansel Adams had told the pair an entire list of camping gear they needed, down to the last detail. Weston replied back: "For camping, all you need is salt, bacon, and jellybeans."
I'd say that sounds about right for Adams...
Posted by: Lithos | Saturday, 28 November 2009 at 08:15 AM
"charis and I are no longer one" he wrote that to Ansel Adams.
Posted by: david lee | Monday, 30 November 2009 at 03:17 PM